Environmental Issues, Ecology, Energy, Climate Change

A panel of governmental, academic and non-profit scientists speaking today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) unveiled research suggesting that diseases found in dolphins are similar to human diseases and can provide clues into how human health might be affected by exposure to contaminated coastal water or seafood.

“Dolphins and humans are both mammals, and their diet includes much of the same seafood that we consume. Unlike us, however, they are exposed to potential ocean health threats such as toxic algae or poor water quality 24 hours a day,” said Carolyn Sotka of the NOAA Oceans and Human Health Initiative and lead organizer of the session. “Our ecological and physiological similarities make dolphins an important ‘sentinel species’ to not only warn us of health risks, but also provide insight into how our health can benefit from new medical discoveries.”

“Marine animal and ecosystem health are connected to public health and well-being,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA is committed to better understanding these connections and building the partnerships necessary to have healthy oceans, including healthy dolphins.”

NOAA is the principal stewardship agency responsible for protecting dolphins in the wild and supports a network of national and international projects aimed at investigating health concerns. A few of these case studies highlighted today at AAAS illustrate how studying disease processes, or pathologies in dolphins, could lead to future prevention or treatment of some diseases in humans. Equally important is the knowledge gained with regards to overall population health, which can lead to improved management and science-based guidelines to mitigate disease outbreak in both people and animals.

—

Unprecedented Contaminant Levels in Coastal Dolphins Warn of Potential Health Risks
Researchers from NOAA and its partner institutions recently discovered that bottlenose dolphins inhabiting estuaries along the Georgia coast have the highest levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) ever reported in marine wildlife. The term PCB encompasses a suite of persistent contaminants that have been banned in the United States since the late 1970s due to documented adverse health effects. The extraordinarily high levels of PCBs measured in the dolphins, a maximum concentration of 2900 parts per million, may be suppressing their immune function.

The unique signature of the PCB compounds found in these dolphins is consistent with contaminants of concern at a Superfund site near Brunswick, Ga. Scientists are equally concerned about the high PCB levels in dolphins sampled near a marine protected area approximately 30 miles from Brunswick. This suggests that the contaminants are moving along the coast through the marine food web.

“When we received the lab results for the Georgia dolphins, we were alarmed by the contaminant levels and set out to investigate how these heavy chemical burdens were affecting their health,” states Lori Schwacke, Ph.D., with NOAA’s Center for Oceans and Human Health at the Hollings Marine Lab and co-lead investigator on the team.

Last August, the team conducted a dolphin ‘capture-release medical physical’ on this population and found decreased levels of thyroid hormones, elevated liver enzymes and indications of suppressed immune function.

A pilot study is being undertaken by the National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to examine potential environmental contaminants in residents of nearby coastal communities. The researchers are investigating whether coastal dolphin populations and human communities sharing the same seafood resources experience similar exposures.

Dolphins May Offer Clues to Treating Diabetes in Humans
Research conducted in part by the non-profit National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF) has uncovered evidence that bottlenose dolphins may be the first natural animal model for type II diabetes. Further study of their genome may elucidate a possible treatment for a disease that accounts for an estimated 5 percent of all human deaths globally, according to the World Health Organization.

These studies have found that healthy dolphins appear to readily turn on and off a diabetes-like state as needed. This “switch” mechanism is likely driven by the dolphins’ very high-protein and very low-carbohydrate fish diet. Analyses have revealed that a fasting mechanism in dolphins may trigger a series of changes in serum chemistries that matches those seen in humans with diabetes.

“While some people may eat a high protein diet to help control diabetes, dolphins appear to have developed a diabetes-like state to support a high protein diet,” according to Stephanie Venn-Watson, Ph.D., director of clinical research for NMMF. “Shared large brains that have high blood glucose demands may explain why two completely different species – humans and dolphins – have developed similar physiological mechanisms to handle sugar.”

Additional evidence collected from this study shows that humans and dolphins may share similar chronic disease outcomes associated with diabetes such as insulin resistance, hemochromatosis (iron overload) and kidney stones.

Model for Epilepsy Discovered from Marine Exposure to Toxic Algae
NOAA researchers found that for the first time exposing laboratory animals to a toxin produced by blooms of microscopic ocean algae can induce seizures and eventually lead to epilepsy in almost all of the animals tested. Establishing this novel linkage of oceans and health offers a new perspective to researchers and clinicians studying human epilepsy.

Working with the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., and other partners, scientists initially suspected a marine environmental cause of epilepsy by studying marine mammals and other wildlife with seizures that washed up on California beaches over the past decade.

The seizures were found to be caused by exposure to domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by the Pseudo-nitzschia australis alga. After realizing thatsome sea lions were stranded with seizures when there were no harmful algal blooms, researchers started to believe that domoic acid poisoning may have progressed to chronic epileptic disease.

Chief of Harmful Algal Blooms & Analytical Response at NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, John Ramsdell, Ph.D., conducted laboratory experiments to validate the field observations seen in sea lions. His research team exposed laboratory rats to domoic acid at levels similar to what a sea lion or dolphin might ingest in the wild by eating contaminated fish.

“Within six months of the initial exposure, 92 percent of laboratory rats tested developed epileptic disease that worsened over their lifetime,” said Ramsdell. “The domoic acid itself is not directly causing the epilepsy, but triggers a brief period of seizures that leads to changes in the brain, resulting in spontaneous and reoccurring seizures, the hallmark of epilepsy.”

The type of epilepsy in the rat model resembles human Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, as confirmed by at least one human case traced back to eating mussels contaminated with the domoic acid toxin.

This research could provide important insight into how dolphins and other species, including humans, respond to domoic acid poisoning. Stranded dolphins with high domoic acid levels do not survive long enough for treatment and study. It is possible that the acute initial poisoning may lead to sudden death; however, these new findings indicate those animals that survive an initial bout of seizures are likely to develop neurological disease with changes in behavior and increasing severity of spontaneous seizures. This new information can help guide future research and emergency response efforts during the next harmful algal bloom event.

Dolphin Viruses May Have Human Health Implications
A team of researchers and veterinarians from the Marine Animal Disease Lab at the University of Florida have discovered at least 50 new viruses in dolphins, the majority of which have yet to be reported in any other marine mammal species.

“We know that the ocean harbors a huge diversity of viruses; but we have very limited knowledge as to which viruses dolphins are susceptible to and how they develop the disease,” said Hendrik H. Nollens, Ph.D., research lead of the UF team. “By studying dolphin viral ecology, we learned more about how viruses infect human and land animals. This research could lead to preventing outbreaks of disease.”

One of these viruses, the human papillomavirus, was found to be common in bottlenose dolphins and likely represents the first natural model of papillomavirus outside the human species. Commonly known as HPV in humans, the virus has historically produced great health risks including cervical tumors or cancer in women, especially women with multiple types of the papillomavirus. This new study shows that while dolphins also host multiple types of papillomaviruses they don’t appear to get cancer, only genital warts. Further research into the genome of this virus in dolphins may help understand, manage and prevent cervical cancer in humans.

Thirteen additional RNA-based viruses that cause intestinal disease and encephalitis in humans have also recently been discovered in dolphins, whales and other marine life. Much like West Nile, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and influenza, RNA-based viruses have the ability to quickly adapt, rapidly mutate and jump from animals to people, posing potential threats to public health. Another virus identified in the dolphins had incorporated part of a similar human virus into its DNA make-up, making it a very probable candidate to infect humans.

—

These cases and the two other studies presented at AAAS today highlight the role of dolphins as important sentinels of ocean and human health. Teri Rowles, Ph.D., NOAA’s lead veterinarian, and Director of NOAA’s Marine Mammal Health Stranding and Response Program, said, “The effect of viruses, toxic algae, contaminants and other stressors on dolphins may pose a risk to populations through decreased survival rates, impaired reproduction and increased risks to catastrophic epidemics. Active surveillance and investigations of these threats by NOAA and partners is critical to conserve and protect marine mammals, the ecosystems in which they live, and public health.”

Washington, DC — American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard held a media teleconference with reporters in which he made several inaccurate statements regarding the Administration’s development of oil and gas resources on public lands and in the Outer Continental Shelf.

“Mr. Gerard needs to check his facts before making statements that are so far off the mark,” said Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff. “Oil and gas production on federal lands and waters is up – not down – from 2008, and under Secretary Salazar’s leadership the Department has offered more than 56 million additional acres for development. Interior’s agencies will continue to promote oil and gas development in the right ways, in the right places, and with a fair return for the American taxpayer, regardless of the political spears Mr. Gerard may throw on any given day.”

RHETORIC: “Specifically, what we do not want is the pattern that we have seen over the past year on the part of the Department of Interior where they have lessened our ability to access those resources and thus lessened our ability to create jobs.” Jack Gerard, President, American Petroleum Institute, January 26, 2010.

REALITY:

•The Administration is moving ahead with a comprehensive energy strategy that makes use of the country’s renewable and conventional resources.
•Federal onshore and offshore oil production has increased 14% over the last year, from 476.6 million barrels in 2008 to 544.3 million barrels in 2009.
•2009 onshore statistics: During calendar year 2009, the BLM held 35 onshore federal oil and gas lease sales, including four sales in December 2009 alone. The 2,542 parcels we offered covered 2.9 million acres. The 1,312 parcels that sold generated nearly $136 million in revenue for American taxpayers.
•2009 offshore statistics: Interior’s Minerals Management Service held two offshore lease sales in 2009. Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 208 on March 18 offered 6,458 parcels, encompassing 34.5 million acres; leased 1,784,242 of those acres in 328 parcels; and collected revenue of $690 million. On August 19, 2009, the Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 210 offered 3,435 parcels, encompassing 18.4 million acres, and generated $111 million in revenue.

RHETORIC: “In the past year, since Secretary Salazar has taken office, the total amount of acreage leased by the federal government, this is onshore and offshore, has shrunk to the lowest level on record.” Jack Gerard, President, American Petroleum Institute, January 26, 2010.

REALITY:

•In FY09, the Administration offered more acres for lease than several years on record. In FY09, for example, the Administration offered more than 8 million more acres for oil and gas development, onshore and offshore, than in FY06.
•The acreage the Administration offered for oil and gas development far exceeded the oil and gas industry’s demand in 2009.

?Onshore, BLM offered 3.8 million acres in FY09 for oil and gas production, but industry bid on only 1.8 million acres. 49% of the parcels sold were protested, up from just over 1% protested in 1998. Secretary Salazar has begun to implement reforms that will increase certainty for the oil and gas industry in this process, reduce conflicts, and restore balance to public lands management.
•NOTABLE FACT: In FY2009, MMS offered the highest number of acres ever for lease in the Gulf of Mexico.

RHETORIC: “The total lease sale revenues in 2009 were less than $1 billion. That’s compared to $10 billion just one year before. So that’s a 90 percent reduction in the revenue that comes to federal, state, and local coffers.” Jack Gerard, President, American Petroleum Institute, January 26, 2010.

REALITY:

•2009 revenues from oil and gas lease sales were in line with recent years. FY 2009 represents the median year since 2001: four years showed higher oil and gas bonus revenues, and four years showed lower revenues. The $10 billion in revenues generated in 2008 by oil and gas lease sales is an anomaly and is largely due to high prices on world markets.
•Total onshore and offshore revenues in FY09: $966 million.
•For more information about offshore lease sales and revenues, click here.

The organizers of the Winter Olympics that kicked off this weekend in Vancouver are hoping to stage some of the greenest Games ever, thanks to a partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

For the past three years the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) and UNEP have worked together to improve the environmental footprint of these Games and to use the high-profile sports gathering to increase public awareness about green issues.

Low-flow toilets that use rainwater for flushing, separate bins for compostable waste and energy-efficient grass-clad roofs are some of the environmentally-friendly features on display at Olympic sites in and around Vancouver.

VANOC has also tried to reduce the carbon impact of the Games by expanding the public transport system and introducing various forms of clean technology, according to a press release issued by UNEP yesterday.

The agency said it will publish an environmental assessment report later this year that will examine the greening of the venues, sustainable transport and waste management.

Today UNEP and VANOC will also announce the winner of a video contest in which Canadian youth were invited to produce a short video or animation clip to show how young people can help create a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle during and after the Games.

Wilfried Lemke, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, will attend today’’s award ceremony.

UNEP is also working with the organizers of the next Winter Olympics, to be staged in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, as part of its campaign to help lower the carbon footprint of major sporting events.

In addition, the UN agency is partnering with the organizers of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa later this year, the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October and the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket competition.

Search

Today, scientists from the NOAA-funded Gulf of Maine Toxicity project issued an outlook for a significant regional bloom of a toxic alga that causes ‘red tides’ in the spring and summer of this year, potentially threatening the New England shellfish industry. […]

I was deeply saddened to learn of Sam Hamilton’s untimely death this weekend. Sam was a wonderful colleague for whom we at NOAA had deep admiration. The NOAA family shares in this great loss to the conservation community, and we extend our sincere condolences to Sam’s family and to all of our colleagues at the Department of the Interior. […]

A new NOAA data feed will streamline search and rescue efforts and hazardous material cleanups in the Caribbean. Measurements of surface current speed and direction off the west coast of Puerto Rico are now feeding into a single Web site, making the information easily accessible and understandable to a broad user community of ocean rescuers and responders fo […]

Bob Barker Confiscates Gill Net, Engages Whalers In the Southern Ocean today, at approximately 1200 (AEST), the Sea Shepherd vessel M/Y Bob Barker encountered the Yushin Maru 3, an illegal Japanese whale killing ship. The Yushin Maru 3 is the same vessel that intentionally rammed into the Bob Barker 19 days ago as the Sea Shepherd ship found the Japanese f […]

EPA is currently accepting applications for the 2010 National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management, which recognizes leadership in addressing environmental triggers as part of comprehensive asthma programs. I can personally attest to the benefits of winning; in 2006, it was awarded to my program, Improving Pediatric Asthma Care in the District […]

Students are often looking for opportunities to earn service hours. Non-profits, faith-based organizations often have such opportunities. Yet, why not think of creative ways to earn these service hours and protect the environment at the same time? And who says that community service should be limited to those who are currently enrolled in school? Volunteerin […]

The Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Bob Barker have now had the illegal Japanese whaling processing ship, Nisshin Maru, on the run for two weeks. No whales have has been killed since February 5th. Three weeks remain in the whaling season, and the Sea Shepherd ships have fuel reserves to continue the chase. The Bob [...] […]